


And Then There Was Two

by CaptainRivaini



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Angst and Humor, F/F, Romance, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-02-06 15:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1863078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainRivaini/pseuds/CaptainRivaini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was Hawke, all broken pieces that hardly fit any more and yet Isabela preferred her that way - because she knew more than anything she would not be the one to place Hawke back together, not when she knew Hawke was more than capable of doing so herself.</p><p>And well if the going got tough, there were other ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Then There Was Two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EclipseOfTime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EclipseOfTime/gifts).



Isabela hadn’t known if she should have stayed away or not, it was Hawke after all, Maker she hadn’t known if she should have even stayed in Kirkwall at the moment with how Hawke was after the dealing with Leandra and that abomination Quentin had transformed her into.

But in spite of her hesitation she knew in truth that she couldn’t leave Phoenix on her own, even with her friends around her none of them could placate her.

Hawke hadn’t even left that damned mansion for weeks, and it was starting to look as though she never would leave, shut out from the rest of the world with curtains drawn and the light inside the mansion always dim with the only bright light being that of that Bodahn’s son, Sandal working at his enchantments.

She had already spoken to Hawke only a few hours after finding Leandra to see a woman she had never rightly seen before, her usual composed state and firm, seldom eyes were now all off tilt, too shaky and disorientated that the shaking woman Isabela had seen before her at that moment had confused her momentarily even as her mind rushed forward to present her with answer after answer.

This was Hawke apparently, and it looked as though she felt like the rest of them and wasn’t just that statue made of marble with features smoothed into a perfect look of concentration, eyes as wide and cunning as a fox.

No she was Hawke, all broken pieces that hardly fit any more and yet Isabela preferred her that way - because she knew more than anything she would not be the one to place Hawke back together, not when she knew Hawke was more than capable of doing so herself.

Not that it stopped her from finally finding the courage to climb her way over the mansion’s tall garden walls, no doubt giving Hawke’s snooty neighbours a good flash of her arse but oh nothing was fair in love and war, right?

 _'Love?'_  She chided herself with a roll of her eyes, getting up to brush the dirt off her clothes with the destination of Hawke’s window.

Getting up there wasn’t that bad, pick-locking the damn thing open wasn’t that bad either.

Stepping inside the nightmarishly dark room to see Hawke hunched over a desk, quill in her hand and the sound of the scratching against thin paper however made Isabela pause, the innocent sound of such a little thing had quickly turned sinister in the dim lighting and if it wasn’t for the fact that Isabela was certain Hawke was in a very bad place right now she would have laughed and made a comment on the poor lighting.

It turned out that her instincts were still rather rusty and Isabela cleared her throat, a toothy smile already worming itself onto her face as she took a step towards Phoenix.

"If you’re not careful there Birdy you’ll actually hatch an egg with how long you’ve been sitting there," Isabela said with a giggle that ended in a snort, "look at that candle! It’s almost down to the ends! I think you’re taking the whole Phoenix name a little bit seriously…"

"Isabela!" Hawke said sharply, interrupting Isabela from speaking of anything else even as her feet continued to bring her forward, "Maker’s breath Isabela just…"

It was then that Hawke turned in her chair to face the other woman with her elbow resting on the edge of her desk, her eyes that were usually so blue were a dull grey colour and rimmed red around the sides made her look as exhausted as Isabela felt at seeing Hawke, the Hawke whom Isabela had known as powerful and relentless and so ridiculously noble, looking as pathetic as she did now.

The sight made Isabela pause and for a lump to appear in her throat, and it remained in there long enough that she felt as though she had no choice but to stare down at her boots and cursed with a shake of her head because by Andraste’s granny panties, she hadn’t expected this coming up here…She hadn’t expected this at all.

Apart from she had. And she had come up here for Phoenix Hawke anyway, and if that didn’t make her a fool she didn’t quite know what did.

"Bugger," she cursed again under her breath, moving forward to grab Hawke by her shoulder and shake her slightly, her other hand moving to gently grab at the top of the other woman’s head, "Birdy…I…"

Sod, she was bloody useless at this. 

Hawke however answered for her, her body shaking at the racking sobs that pulled her head forward to rest on Isabela’s own, tears that Isabela had never known Hawke had been unable to shed continued to stream down her pale cheeks. 

Isabela, not knowing what else to do, patted the crying woman on the head with her eyes searching everywhere in the room for some way to distract herself away from this sudden burst of feelings that had managed to settle into her chest and had taken her completely by surprise.

Feelings were like that - utterly horrible really, she wouldn’t recommend them to anyone.

"I’m sick of being useless!" Hawke whispered harshly, her hot breath enough reason for Isabela to look up to see Hawke’s eyes were closed and the tears that had been there previously had faltered somewhat as the mage tried to catch her breath and regather her thoughts, "I told myself that if I wrote and stayed inside for a while it wouldn’t be so bad, but everything is changing around me isn’t it? My mother died and yet here I am, acting like…like I’m the one who did."

Isabela moved back to stare at the now silent woman in front of her, face twisting into a grimace whilst her head cocked to the side in disbelief at what she was hearing.

This was Hawke, the Hawke whom drove her up the wall with how bloody noble she was and the Hawke who Isabela had shared her bed with so many times to leave it feeling as though she had left a part of herself behind each time, the Hawke who looked at her and saw her vulnerability and didn’t try to prod at it for her own selfish gain.

Maker, she had never expected their roles to be swapped with her looking at Hawke’s vulnerability at such a close proximity. It made her want to throw up, unsure what she could say with how looking at Hawke only made her head swim and her stomach curl unpleasantly at how the words she denied constantly tried to push their way out of her mouth.

She wouldn’t bare her heart for everyone to see, but she would not allow Hawke to go through the pain of losing Leandra alone, even if it made her feel as useful as tits on a turtle in hindsight.

"You’re useless? Phoenix do you really think we all would have kept together in this merry band of misfits if it wasn’t for you?" Isabela asked with a chortle, her hands slipping down Hawke’s arms to stop at her elbows, "And do you know how many times you’ve saved my arse? Honestly sweetness, the patrons at the Blooming Rose should shower you in sovereigns for saving their best customer!"

Isabela’s smirk widened at the snort she received, even if Hawke’s words were far from comforting: “Me acting this way…I’m aware it’s childish of me and that you’re not used to-“

Isabela dug her nails into the other woman’s elbows, her brow furrowed in annoyance, “No, it’s not childish,” she whispered angrily before her tone of voice turned soft, tender even, “you miss your mother Hawke, a mother who you clearly loved very much and what you’re going through now? Sweetness…it’s called grieving.”

Andraste’s tits, the strength it took to even string two words together at this point didn’t even seem like strength at all now and that thought itself was terrifying - that what she was saying in fact just happened naturally and that perhaps (though only perhaps) she didn’t find comforting Hawke in the way she needed to be as intimidating as she had expected it should have felt.

Looking at Hawke shouldn’t be so hard however, nothing should be as hard as this and Isabela’s seen and done so many shitty things that have been hard for her to stomach and ignore, but Andraste had a funny sense of humour when it came to Isabela’s fate.

She snorted at the word, fate? What use was that in this situation?

"Bed," she said instead, smiling roguishly at the look of disbelief and anger that swept over Hawke’s face before it changed into one of bewilderment as Isabela picked the mage up in her arms so swiftly that Hawke had no chance to protest before the Rivaini pirate was already carrying her over towards her queen-sized bed.

"I’m not tired," Phoenix said but Isabela let out another snort and chuckle that made the mage glare at her darkly, so dark that once upon a time Isabela would have left her stubborn arse to mope and brood because she knew where she wasn’t wanted but hey, today everything was confusing, most of all to Isabela herself.

She dropped the mage on her bed as quickly as she could, still not quite sure why she had picked Hawke up like that in the first place but now it felt weird and unnecessary, so there was that.

"You don’t have to do this," Hawke protested weakly, her voice strained with emotion that she so often hid that Isabela still hadn’t gotten used to it even as distracted as she was at settling herself at the bottom of Hawke’s bed to search through the pouch that was at her waist in order to find just the thing that she hoped would ease the unease in her stomach, "I know you aren’t great at this, and that we argue a lot and I wouldn’t be surprised if you-"

Isabela interrupted her mid-speech, a pipe in one hand and a bunch of elfroot leaves in the other that overall made the disquieted smile on her face look incredibly out of place, even as she dropped the items in Hawke’s lap with an expectant look in her eyes.

That look turned into humour once she saw Hawke’s eyes narrow at her dangerously and her lips thinned into a scowl. It was as if she was seeing the old Phoenix back, and it was some dangerous game to actually be relieved to see that grumpy fool resurfacing again.

A grumpy fool that made her laugh when she held up the pipe and the elfroot with a glare, “you’re asking me to  _smoke_  elfroot?”

Isabela grinned, pleased that she had managed to subdue the situation into something much more freeing and playful, “but sweetness it helps you go to sleep, and it’s  _medicinal!_ ”

Not waiting for any more of Hawke’s protests she leaned in to grab at the bunch and break it up into small pieces, letting them fall into the pipe before she moved further up the bed so she and Hawke sat together, side by side with hips brushing against one another.

Hawke side-eyed her and the pipe in her hands warily, eyes darkening even more when Isabela cleared her throat and lifted the pipe to Hawke’s mouth with an unbelievably tender smile that made her jaw ache at the recognition of how soft that smile indeed was, especially considering the company…

When it looked like Isabela wasn’t going to move the pipe away any time soon Hawke let out a sigh that was again one the pirate captain recognized, and with a smirk she couldn’t hide her delight when the mage moved her hand just below the pipe before her fingers were engulfed with fire and smoke started to drift up from the pipe.

"That’s a good bird-for-brains!" Isabela remarked with an affectionate laugh, unable to truly realize she had run her fingers through Hawke’s hair with a squeeze to her scalp until it was too late to pull away without looking as awkward as ever. Bugger.

Hawke rolled her eyes in response even as she puffed on the pipe, eyes lulling closed as she did so with her chest restricting and expanding after a few moments at each inhale and exhale of the elfroot that was starting to spread throughout her system.

Isabela hadn’t lied, the damned thing did make her sleepy - she wondered if this was what Isabela had planned for her all along, what with Aveline commenting frequently at the bags under her eyes and Varric’s own continuous threats he would force her to sleep if she kept it up any longer.

But she doubted it.

Her pirate captain’s fingers ran through her hair before they awkwardly began to dislodge themselves, startling her slightly in order to see what on earth the other woman was doing but she decided perhaps it was better not to try and figure out Isabela right now, perhaps it would be best to focus on herself.

"How is it?" 

Hawke coughed into the back of her hand, bringing the pipe from her lips as she did so: “It’s fine - mother would have disapproved of this however, smoking inside the estate.”

"It’s fine," Isabela mimicked before she caught wind on the rest of Hawke’s statement, only half-wondering if she should take the plunge and try and keep the atmosphere cheery before she decided to damn it all and do what her instincts bade her to do, "and oh, scandalous!"

"Scandalous," Hawke repeated with another defeated smile coming to her face, but at least there was mirth present too, that was something Isabela could get behind if the butterflies in her stomach said anything.

 _'Oh shush you!'_ She cursed inwardly, allowing her own sense of defeat wash over her as she sat next to Hawke, refusing to answer her own question on why she had stayed to the point that before she knew it herself and Hawke were pressed together with the morning sun their only witness.


End file.
